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Welcome to the first edition of the TAARN Newsletter.
Each month, the Anti-Authoritarian Resource Network will bring you a curated briefing on the events, trends, and movements shaping the global struggle against authoritarianism. Our aim is simple: to cut through the noise, round up linked developments, and present them in a manner informed by the work of scholars, educators, and activists who have long studied and resisted authoritarian power.
In each issue, you’ll find news on authoritarian politics worldwide; highlights of protests, calls to action, and organizing efforts you can support; and updates on TAARN’s own projects and events. On occasion, the newsletter will include longer form editorials and other feature content. If there are stories or efforts that deserve our attention, or if you’d like to contribute to future issues, we’d love to hear from you — reach out through the contact form at taarn.org.
This newsletter is written for anyone who believes that understanding authoritarianism is a precondition for dismantling it. Whether you come to this work as a researcher, a teacher, an organizer, or a concerned citizen, we’re glad you’re here. |
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Arts Against Dehumanization
April 3 | 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. EDT
The Anti-Authoritarian Resource Network’s Art Against Dehumanization team invites artists, educators, and cultural workers to join us for a virtual coffee hour to exchange ideas and imagine what creative resistance can look like in this moment. |
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International Student Happy Hour
TAARN hosted our first International Graduate Student Happy Hour. The attendees discussed the xenophobic climate facing international graduate students and the importance of making connections and communities. Our next happy hour will highlight research collaborations and publication opportunities. |
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NCA Public Program
The NCA public program “How to have hope in the impossible times: Thinking through pain, memory and desire during the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in the U.S.” organized by TAARN leadership drew record triple digit attendance. Featuring refugee and immigrant scholars the program discussed what it means to have hope in hopeless times. The recording of the program will be available on NCA website. |
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“Students, shout, shout for your rights!” Protests Against Authoritarianism in Iran Continue, Led by Students, Despite State Violence |
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Students in Iranian universities have staged anti-government protests at scale in light of government repression of human rights, women’s rights, and democracy activists since December 2025.
Protests continue in light of the increased military presence in the region, including President Donald Trump’s threat to strike Iranian military assets.
Human rights organizations have reported that at least 7,000 people were killed during the January wave of protests. In light of regime opacity, this is a conservative estimate. The regime continues to label protestors as “enemies of God” and “criminals,” denying them the right to due process, and employing methods of physical and psychological torture.
Despite repression, students in Tehran and other major cities have taken to the streets, shouting slogans like “Students, shout, shout for your rights!” and “Death to the dictator!” Some students welcome a potential US-backed intervention to overthrow the Khomeini regime, while others express skepticism and prefer a regime change led by the Iranian people.
The continued protests occur in the context of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement spurred on by the murder of Mahsa Amini by the state morality police in September 2022.
The struggle for human rights in Iran occurs in the context of state repression of free assembly, persecution of women, and imposition of martial law. |
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Ukraine Marks Four Years Since Russia’s Illegal Invasion and Occupation. Russia Attacks Energy Infrastructure During the Coldest Winter in 20 Years. |
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On Feburary 24th, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reached its fourth year. What Russia has branded as a “special military operation” started as a failed 2022 attempt to quickly subjugate the Eastern European democracy, but now has gone on longer than World War II and claimed at least 1 million lives. Additionally, the invasion has spurred years of power outages and water cuts that threaten the livelihood of Ukrainian civilians.
Ukrainian analysts note that Russia’s aggression against the country did not start in 2022. The war was preceded by the 2014 invasion of Crimea, Russian intervention in Donetsk and Luhansk, and rampant election interference.
According to the Institute for the Study of War, Russia currently occupies about 19.4% of Ukrainian territory. In the last year, Russia has only gained 0.79% of Ukrainian territory in what The Associated Press terms a “brutal war of attrition.”
Though European allies continue to stand behind Ukraine, the Trump administration has entertained talks with Vladimir Putin and cut off much necessary wartime aid. Emboldened by newfound support among Western authoritarian regimes, Moscow continues to press the attack despite suffering major losses and accruing little advances on the front lines.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to test nations’ commitments to democratic life, sovereignty, and self-determination. Anti-authoritarian scholars must call this war what it is: a bloody, failed attempt to crush resistance to Russian imperialism in Europe. |
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Donald Trump Floats a “Friendly Takeover” of Cuba as Cuban People Reel from Blockade |
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Trump told reporters on Friday, February 27th that his administration might conduct a “friendly takeover” of the imperiled Castro administration in Cuba.
Trump’s comment, made in between questions about Iran and the Epstein files, claimed that such a takeover could occur after “many, many years” and impel Cuban-Americans to return to Cuba.
The Trump administration has amplified its economic pressure on Cuba, blocking all fuel imports to the nation. This action, which has left the Cuban economy reeling, represents an extension of the blockade which has been in place since 1960, despite thawing of relations under Barack Obama in 2009.
Protestors in Miami condemned the blockade on March 1st, calling upon the administration to end the 67 year trade war against the island. Participants claimed that their relatives in Cuba lack basic infrastructure such as water, electricity, and fuel as a result of the blockade. |
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Donald Trump Delivers Incendiary 2026 State of the Union Address |
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The 2026 State of the Union address, delivered by Donald Trump on February 24th, was not only the longest such address in American history, but was also replete with misleading claims and incendiary rhetoric, particularly surrounding immigration and the economy. Fact-checkers noted that while Trump declared more Americans are working than at any point in history, total employment typically rises with population growth, and the labor force participation rate has in fact remained flat since the end of the Biden administration. Trump called affordability a “dirty, rotten lie” perpetuated by Democrats, and pushed the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote — citing claims of “rampant” cheating despite the fact that proven instances of fraud by noncitizens are very rare. The speech grew increasingly contentious in its second hour, with Rep. Al Green escorted from the chamber after holding a sign reading “Black People Aren’t Apes” — a reference to a video Trump had reposted depicting the Obamas as apes, while other Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, interrupted by calling out at the president. The address showcased hallmarks of authoritarian political communication: the strategic deployment of misleading statistics to manufacture consensus, the scapegoating of immigrants and political opponents, the delegitimization of democratic processes through unfounded fraud claims, and the use of dehumanizing rhetoric against perceived enemies. In the Democratic response, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger accused the president of lying, scapegoating, and offering no real solutions to the challenges his administration’s own policies have worsened. |
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Taliban Penal Code Legalizes Slavery, Domestic Violence against Women |
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The Taliban government in Afghanistan enacted a new penal code which sets legal precedent for the return of slavery and permits husbands to beat their wives and children as long as beatings do not result in open wounds or broken bones.
Furthermore, corporeal punishments which do result in open lesions carry a paltry sentence of 15 days in prison. What’s more, women, who cannot appear in court as independent subjects, carry the burden of proof.
Rawadari, a UK-based Afghan human rights organization, leaked the new code in January, signed by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
The code also distinguishes between permissible forms of corporeal punishment against wives, children, and slaves, signaling the return of legal slavery and class-based justice in the country.
The new penal code is just one of the 157 laws enacted by the Taliban government since 2021 specifically targeting the rights of women and girls. The Permanent People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan characterized these laws as part of a coordinated campaign to “erase women from public life and to restructure Afghan society around male supremacy.” |
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Immigration Enforcement and Community Activism in Minnesota Continue, Despite the Declared End of Operation Metro Surge |
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In the wake of immigration enforcement’s murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities continue to grapple with heavy immigration enforcement activity. Several protests have resulted in mass arrests, there was an arson of Renee Good’s memorial, and the Trump administration is attempting to withhold billions of dollars in Medicaid funding to the state due to alleged fraud (which Minnesota is appealing).
Tom Homan announced the end of Operation Metro Surge on February 12, but several hundred agents remain in Minnesota (there were approximately 3,000 federal agents at the Operation’s peak). Prior to Operation Metro Surge, approximately 190 federal agents covered five Midwest states.
Immigration enforcement’s violence also continues outside of Minnesota, including the death of Dr. Linda Davis, who was killed in a car crash by a man fleeing ICE agents, and Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly-blind, non-English-speaking refugee, who was released by CBP miles from his home in freezing temperatures. |
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US and Israel Launch War on Iran as Ongoing Conflict Engulfs the Region |
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On February 28th, the United States and Israel launched a series of military strikes against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and triggering a widening regional conflict. The strikes, launched during ongoing nuclear negotiations, targeted Iran’s nuclear program, military infrastructure, and leadership, resulting in both military and civilian casualties. Iran retaliated with hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles aimed at Israel and US military installations across the Gulf states. The conflict escalated into Lebanon, where more than 1,000 militants and civilians were killed by late March. Critics, including legal and international relations experts, have described the strikes as illegal under US law and a violation of Iranian sovereignty under international law. The war arrives at a moment when Iran’s theocratic regime was already at its most vulnerable, weakened by sanctions, prior Israeli strikes, and the massive protest movement documented above. U.S. President Trump threatened that if a deal is not reached and the Strait of Hormuz reopened, the US would destroy Iran’s power plants, oil wells, and potentially its desalination infrastructure — the very civilian systems Iranians would need to rebuild their country under any future government. |
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Freedom House Reports 20th Consecutive Year of Global Freedom Decline; US Among Sharpest Drops |
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Freedom House’s annual report, Freedom in the World 2026: The Growing Shadow of Autocracy, found that 54 countries experienced deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties in 2025. Today just 21 percent of the world’s people live in countries rated Free, down from 46 percent two decades ago. Among countries still rated Free, the United States experienced the sharpest decline, dropping 3 points on the report’s 100-point scale to its lowest score since Freedom House began publishing these ratings in 2002. V-Dem, a Sweden-based democracy institute, went further, formally downgrading the US and dropping its democracy ranking from 20th to 51st out of 179 countries. V-Dem concluded that Trump has moved the country in an authoritarian direction faster than Hungary’s Orbán, India’s Modi, or Turkey’s Erdoğan did in their respective nations. The report also noted that autocratic states are now collaborating not just in ad hoc ways but systematically to undermine democracy worldwide, while the United States has cut funding for foreign assistance, disengaged from international organizations, and ceased commenting on the fairness of foreign elections. |
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Millions Turn Out for “No Kings” Protests Across the US and Worldwide |
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On March 28th, an estimated eight to nine million people participated in more than 3,300 organized protests across the United States, making it the largest single-day protest in American history. The demonstrations, the third in a series of “No Kings” protests, opposed the war in Iran, democratic backsliding, the suppression of the Epstein files, and immigration enforcement operations that have resulted in killings by federal agents. The rally at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul was designated the national flagship event, in recognition of the state’s role as an epicenter of resistance to the administration’s immigration crackdown. Protests extended well beyond traditional strongholds: organizers reported that two-thirds of RSVPs came from outside major urban centers, including in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Utah. Rallies also took place across Europe, including in London and Paris.The White House dismissed the protests as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support — a patterned authoritarian tactic of delegitimizing mass popular mobilization by attributing it to shadowy outside agitators. |
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Millions Turn Out for “No Kings” Protests Across the US and Worldwide |
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On March 28th, an estimated eight to nine million people participated in more than 3,300 organized protests across the United States, making it the largest single-day protest in American history. The demonstrations, the third in a series of “No Kings” protests, opposed the war in Iran, democratic backsliding, the suppression of the Epstein files, and immigration enforcement operations that have resulted in killings by federal agents. The rally at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul was designated the national flagship event, in recognition of the state’s role as an epicenter of resistance to the administration’s immigration crackdown. Protests extended well beyond traditional strongholds: organizers reported that two-thirds of RSVPs came from outside major urban centers, including in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Utah. Rallies also took place across Europe, including in London and Paris.The White House dismissed the protests as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support — a patterned authoritarian tactic of delegitimizing mass popular mobilization by attributing it to shadowy outside agitators. |
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Russia Escalates Internet Shutdowns, Cracks Down on Protesters |
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Russian authorities have imposed broad mobile internet shutdowns across Moscow and Saint Petersburg for nearly three weeks under the pretext of public safety, according to Human Rights Watch. On March 29th, police detained at least 14 people at a peaceful protest against the shutdowns in Moscow, and authorities banned planned protests in at least 40 cities across Russia under false pretexts including COVID restrictions, drone threats, snow, tree inspections, and sports festivals. In the days before the protests, law enforcement searched homes and issued warnings; five organizers in Moscow were sentenced to 15 days of detention, and a rally organizer in Rostov was sentenced to 10 days and allegedly beaten in custody. The manufactured justifications for banning assembly, preemptive detention of organizers, and the severing of communication networks represents an intensification of the Russian state’s long campaign to eliminate independent civil society. As Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on, the regime increasingly treats its own citizens’ access to information as a national security threat. |
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Police Raid University of Belgrade in Serbia |
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The police raided University of Belgrade and took the staff’s computers and hard drives because the Dean made a statement about investigating the death of a student. “They are not afraid of crime. They are afraid of education.” A statement from one of the professors. |
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